Introduction
Several pages on the site contain family trees. One program I looked at to produce them is the yworks yEd graph editor. This can automatically produce some really nice family trees but it has a couple of gotchas you have to be aware when using the program.
This page looks at producing a family tree using the yEd program.
yEd Family Tree Layout
The automatic yEd Family Tree layout is found in the Layout main menu item.
Location of the automatic yEd Family Tree layout
Automatic yEd Family Tree layout options
It does not matter when the options are set, either when starting a new family tree or part way through editing one. Most of the options are used to change the appearance of the family tree, its look and the spacing between elements. There is one setting that is very important and that is the colur chosen in the Color For Families in the Distinguish Node Types option.
yEd seems to use the colour of the nodes when producing the family tree. If the ones in the chart, which control the relationship between mother and father and their children, is different then specified in the option then yEd cannot produce the chart and a warning to that effect is displayed.
Example family tree before layout applied
Example family tree after layout applied
How the lines are drawn between the family member nodes and the family join node is very important. The parent, in this case father and mother node, edges must be drawn from those nodes to the family join node. The lines to the childen nodes, in this case Alan, Betty and Charles must be drawn from the family join node to those nodes. If this is not done proeprly then an error will result.
The family join node can be altered so that its size is just 1px x 1px after the family chart has been drawn to improve the look of it.
Example family tree after the family join node has been edited
Sortation of the Children Nodes
My only niggle with the program is that the children nodes cannot be sorted. yEd seems to apply its own sortation method to these nodes and it doesn't matter in what order the nodes are drawn or the order in which they are attached the family join node, yEd applies its own sortation to them. They cannot be sorted alphabetically or by birth date.
The only way they can be put into an order is by rewriting the node lables. Even this creates a problem as marriage partners are put on the right-hand side of the children row.
All of the above can be seen in the following portion of a Fry family tree:
Portion of the Fry family tree
Mitigation
As yEd simply relies on the edges (the lines joining the nodes) and the way they are drawn then the labels can be omitted when adding the nodes then added or edited after the family tree layout has been applied.
A problem with this is that there is no guarantee that they will not get resorted when the family tree as a whole is edited and the layout is reapplied.
Sources & Resources
Create a Family Tree using Google Sheets and yEd 2022 - Jonathan Wood - YouTube
How do I change the order of siblings in family trees? - yEd Q&A
Making Family tree from Excel file - yEd Q&A
Must I use the 'black family box'? - yEd Q&A
Need Examples of How to setup family tree - yEd Q&A
yEd Family Tree Layout help
yworks yEd graph editor